I view the election process as a chain of events from "We The People" casting our vote - all the way to the announcement of the results. There are a lot of chain links to the election chain. Part of the process that I view as a weak link in our election chain is how we count the ballots. Most people are not aware that only a minimum of 5% of the voting precincts are randomly selected for hand counting during verification per state law. This means that all the ballots in the other 95% of the precincts are counted by programmable optical readers (unless it happens to be a close race of .5% or less, etc.) We have the option to hand count a greater number of precincts all the way up to 100% of the ballots. Using new hand counting techniques, this is even more achievable than ever before. Critics will say we can't do this. As an election judge myself, I disagree. Let's not forget, we voted using pencil and paper long before electronics were ever invented. While I am in favor of efficiency, I don't believe we should be replacing people with electronic scanners to count our votes even if it is easier. I would like to see our tax dollars stay in Jefferson County by hiring more election judges instead of sending tax dollars to out of state voting equipment companies. Due to the ongoing cost of the machines, it's possible that the county will save money as well.